In a statement, Gaza’s National Committee for Breaking the Siege urged the people of Gaza to take part in the rally, dubbing the event “the Friday of Freedom”.

According to Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanoa, Friday’s protest served to confirm “the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their determination to continue holding these rallies in the face of repeated Israeli escalations”.

Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of basic commodities.

Since the Gaza demonstrations began four months ago, 158 Palestinians have been martyred by Israeli forces deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.